Plan to join us right here while Dr. Sally Temple is interviewed on WAMC on Thursday December 5, 2013 at 1:00 EST. Listen live at wamc.org. Ask your questions on facebook and twitter and our team will post answers and insights.

Answer:
Because stem cells can turn into all cells in the body, they have diverse potential for helping patients, for replacing diseased tissue (e.g. Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes), and can be used in the lab to model different diseases and to identify and test cures.

Question:
How soon will stem cells help people with AMD?

Answer:
There is already a clinical trial ongoing for AMD patients as well as for patients affected by Stargardt’s disease using human embryonic stem cell-derived progenies

Last month, the Neural Stem Cell Institute welcomed visitors from the National Alliance on Mental Illness – NYS, Executive Director Donald Capone, President Thomas Easterly and Sally Easterly. Invited by researcher Richard Davis, PhD. and welcomed by NSCI co-founder Dr.Jeffrey Stern their visit started with a tour of our labs. Dr. Stern spoke of the significance of our independence as a translational research facility and the desire of NSCI to get our research to the bedside to aid people suffering from diseases of the central nervous system.

Dr. Richard Davis welcomes Sally Easterly.

In their continued efforts to advocate for research our visitors came with questions. How could our research potentially impact the trajectory of mental illness? From the NAMI 2013 Legislative Action Agenda: “For those living with serious mental illness and for their families, research into finding the causes of these devastating brain disorders–and eventually figuring out how to prevent them–has always been a top priority of NAMI-NYS. As scientists work to develop a better understanding of the brain and how it works, it is also important to continue to support research that provides for better treatments and improved medications. Research is our hope for the future.” [Read more…]

Our Unique Organization

The Neural Stem Cell Institute (NSCI) is dedicated to developing regenerative stem cell therapies for various diseases of the central nervous system (CNS): the brain, spinal cord and retina, regardless of the cause of injury. Led by MacArthur “Genius” Award winner Dr. Sally Temple who helped discover and define nervous system stem cells, NSCI is the first independent, non-profit stem cell research institute in the USA.